The COVID-19 pandemic is having a very negative economic and social impact on Portugal's economy, with the year 2020 expected to represent the largest economic recession since the 1970s. According to the Bank of Portugal forecasts, employment is expected to fall significantly, with the unemployment rate estimated at around 10%, with a special focus on young graduates. Simultaneously, several research papers have revealed the importance of entrepreneurship in job creation and economic development, highlighting the role of entrepreneurial ecosystems and government support for creating successful businesses. In this sense, this study has as its main objective to characterize a support program to the investment of young unemployed entrepreneurs and evidence its potential impact on Portugal's economic growth and social progress.
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The covid-19 pandemic is having a very negative economic and social impact on Portugal’s economy, with the year 2020 expected to represent the largest economic recession since last century’s 70’s decade. According to the Bank of Portugal forecasts, employment is expected to fall significantly, with the unemployment rate estimated at around 10%, with a special focus on young graduates.
Simultaneously, several research papers (for example, Decker et al., 2014; Momani, 2017; Schwetzer et al., 2019; Neumann, 2020) have suggested the importance of entrepreneurship in job creation and economic development, highlighting the role of entrepreneurial ecosystems and government support for creating successful businesses.
In this sense, this study has as main objective to characterize a support program to the investment of young unemployed entrepreneurs and evidence its potential impact on Portugal’s economic growth and social progress.
At the same time, with the development of this research work, we intend to contribute to identify profiles of entrepreneurs and projects that could be a reference in terms of the capacity to create economic value and, thus, design government support programs that respond more effectively to challenges posed by the pandemic.
For the development of this work, we used the multiple case study methodology, based on the analysis of candidatures to the Investe Jovem and Investe Artes e Ofícios programs.
This work contributes to the identification of the profile of promoters and projects that compete for government support in the areas of entrepreneurship and unemployment. An overview of the projects type that can potentially contribute to the creation of sustainable businesses is presented. In turn, information can contribute to the adjustment to the efficient distribution of government grants, with a focus on promoting social progress and combating the challenges caused by crises.
Thus, besides a theoretical framework where the main aspects about entrepreneurship, its importance for economic growth, the conditioning factors of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the contribution of different Government supports will be characterized. This paper will also present some statistics revealing the global pandemic’s impact on unemployment growth in Portugal and characterize an investment support program for business creation by young unemployed. Finally, an analysis is performed of the applications submitted over the years 2015 to 2019 in the Greater Lisbon region, the expected economic impact of these projects, and the main challenges to face in order to adapt the support programs for entrepreneurship in a global pandemic situation.